Review article
Infrastructure facilities in the Republic of Croatia in the light of property law, with special emphasis on telecommunications
Justina Bajt
Abstract
The author explores the ways in which infrastructure facilities such as power supply, telecommunications, gas and oil supply, water supply, sewage system and heating system are regulated by substantive law to meet the following criteria: First, they are unitary and indivisible functional technical and technological units consisting of pipes, power lines and accompanying elements. Second, as unique facilities they are constructed on a large number of plots of land on a land area, the air space above and the subsoil. Third, the plots of land on which infrastructure facilities are built are not owned by the investor, or owner of the infrustructure facility. Finally, the building of infrastructure facilities is regulated by special law as a social, public, common, and state interest.
The author concludes that general property law and regulations in the field of power supply, telecommunications, water supply management, public utilities, regional planning and building have not been given the normative importance they have in practice.
By reintroducing the principle of legal unity of real property in the legal system of the Republic of Croatia, the legal relation has not been clearly defined between infrastructure facilities and land on which they are constructed (this is especially true of real property regarded as public property ). As a result, legal relations between owners of land and owners of infrastructure facilities are regulated by general property law system. According to the author, in its harmonisation with EU legislation, Croatia will have to include the institute of Rights of way as legal servitude for the construction of infrastructure facilities, as this has already been done for telecommunications infrastructure.
Furthermore, she contends that registration of infrastructure facilities as a whole in public registers as special types of buildings that must included in regional planning, with special building permits and inspection certificates has not been regulated by law, to which special attention should be paid .
Due to the importance of infrastructure facilities and a number of features characterising them with respect to other types of objects, as well as the deviation from substantive law regulation, the author believes that this area should be integrally regulated by a specific law.
Keywords
infrastructure facilities; ownership; servitude; public roads; maritime resources
Hrčak ID:
35524
URI
Publication date:
20.4.2009.
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